When was the Bowery Mission in New York City established?

Answer 1

I'll give you the year,1879, given by the owner of the Bowery Mission, Christian Herald Association on it's website: www.bowery.org.

If you visit the mission auditorium at 227 Bowery near Prince Street in Manhattan, New York City, you'll find a marble tablet dedicated to the founder of the mission ("this mission") Rev. Albert Ruliffson with only the month and year given: Nov 1879. How this month and year was arrived at is anyone's guess.

According to a pamphlet, "A Plea for the homeless men and boys of the Bowery," under the caption The Gospel Lighthouse on the Bowery: "This Mission was opened on November 7, 1879. the Rev. A.G. Ruliffson, Presbyterian minister, and a few Christian friends, observing the wickedness of the locality, took a small room, furnished it economically, and prayerfully commenced the undertaking." So here we have a specific date.

However, when you consult King's Handbook of New York (page 424, Vol 1, 1893) we read: "The Bowery Mission and Young Men's Home, at 105 Bowery, was founded in 1880, for aggressive Christian work among the young men living in that locality...."

In summary, these are the dates: 1879, Nov 1879, November 7, 1879, and 1880.

Which one is historically (if you prefer, factually) correct?

Christian Herald Association did not take charge of the Bowery Mission until after Rev. Ruliffson retired as its first president in 1895. In Christian Herald And Signs Of Our Times published by Christian Herald, March 27, 1895 (page 193, Vol 18, No. 13) a brief history of the Bowery Mission is outlined before Christian Herald incorporated the mission. Here is an excerpt:

For two generations the Bowery has been a focus of crime and misery in the metropolis. Fifteen years ago, Rev. A. G. Ruliffson and Mrs. Ruliffson, long engaged in missin work in New York, decided to open an eastside mission for men. They had frequent conversations with Jerry McAuley of the Water Street Mission on the subject and ...In a few weeks a preliminary mission was launched by Mr. and Mrs. Ruliffson."

Based on the chronology here in 1895, the Ruliffsons along with McAuley would have opened the Bowery Mission in 1880.

The article continues: "A suitable building was found at No. 36 Bowery and there "The Bowery Mission and Young Men's Home was established. " I have put the address and the verb in bold type. According to Dictionary.com the verb found has the following synonyms: create, establish, institute, organize and these verbs mean "to bring something into existence and set it in operation." So based on these accepted synonyms we can substitute any of the other verbs for the bold type established above. The Bowery Mission wass founded (established) at 36 Bowery, in other words.

Local newspapers at the period give us the following information:

The New York Tribune, March 14, 1898, page 3 under The Bowery Mission: A Sketch Of Its Career-Its Financial Difficulties: "The Bowery Mission was started in 1880 at 36 Bowery by a number of men who were interested in mission work."

The New York Tribune, November 8, 1880, page 8: "The Bowery Evangelical Mission, at No. 36 Bowery, was opened yesterday afternoon with a prayer-meeting, at which some 150 persons were present." Yesterday takes us to November 7, 1880.

The New York Times, November 7, 1880, page 5: "The Bowery Mission, between Canal and Bayard Streets, which has been entired refitted and a new chapel erected, has opened yesterday afternoon for the first Fall service." Yesterday puts the opening on November 6, 1880.

In summary, we now have 1880, November 6, 1880 and November 7, 1880 as founding times for the Bowery Mission instead of 1879, and November 7, 1879.

You decide to find information written by its founder Rev. Albert Ruliffson to further pinpoint a date. For this, we turn to the Annual Reports:

(1881) "The First anniversary of the Bowery Mission and Young Men's Home was held in the Chapel, 36 Bowery, on Sunday afternoon and evening, November 6th."

(1883) "There has been no cessation in the work from the night the doors were first opened to the public (November 6th, 1880) until the present time." The date in parenthesis are in the original.

Here we have a specific date: November 6, 1880. This agrees with the New York Times article above.

Returning now to the Ruliffson tablet in the mission, it was erected November 9, 1898 according to an article published by Christian Herald: "Honoring Its Founder: the Bowery Mission Unveils A Tablet to the memory of A. G. Ruliffson, and also celebrates its 19th anniversary." (page 876, November 9, 1898). Based on this tablet, the article attributes the founding of the mission to 1879.

I am more comfortable relying on sources closest to the founding of the Bowery Mission. Thus I accept the November 6, 1880 date. I decided to look at a scholarly work that deals extensively with Christian Herald Association, Norris Magnuson's Salvation In The Slums, which states: "The Herald entered the rescue mission field a year later, assuming control of New York City's hard-pressed Bowery Mission (in 1895), whose origin in 1880 made it one of the nation's oldest." (page 28). Magnuson's bibliography shows he relied on the mission's early Annual Reports for that particular sentence.

My answer to the question, When was the Bowery Mission in New York City established?" concludes the mission was founded November 6, 1880. It should be noted that this year conflicts with that stated by Christian Herald Association.

I encourage you to seek your own answer based on your research using multiple sources that are credible.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your question.